Do You Trust Me?
by The Other Jet Engine
Summary: the multiverse is a thing, so it's quite possible that when Tony asks Steve if he trusts him, somewhere, Superior Iron Man is asking Captain Hydra the very same question :)


Tony watches through the cracked windshield of the destroyed car, heaving a sigh when Steve jumps over the railing on the staircase, landing gracefully on his feet. He inhales, rolling his neck and cracking his fingers, watching as the light glints off the shield's star as Steve makes his way over to them. Tony tries not to admire the sharp cut of the suit, focusing instead on the fact that the last place in the world he wants to be is in this sh*tty car in the middle of an alien battle with Scott's judgement radiating from the backseat. He hates that they're forced to be here in the first place, having this conversation instead of making their way back home, only because he screwed up. Again.

But they're here, not home, and this conversation in is necessary if they have any hope of getting there. He takes a fortifying breath. "Cap...Sorry, buddy. We got a problem."

* * *

_Tony watches Steve leap over the railing, scepter firmly in hand. The silver of the skull on his shield catches briefly in the light as he spins around, and Tony takes a second to admire the sharp cut of the black suit, the glow of the red against the Captain's pale skin as he struts towards them. He smirks as Steve gets closer, voice pitched low in amusement when he speaks. "We've run into a slight wrinkle, my dear Captain."_

_A matching smirk pulls at the corner of Steve's mouth, and he runs a hand up the side of Tony's waist once he's close enough. "And what wrinkle would that be, my dear Anthony?"_

_Tony stares at him, unimpressed, and Steve huffs out a laugh. "Apologies. What wrinkle, _Superior_?"_

_"Bit of a run in, shall we say, with the green one. Long story short, stone's gone."_

_Steve raises an eyebrow, settling against the hood of the car. "You don't sound apologetic in the slightest."_

_Tony raises an eyebrow in turn. "Did you expect me to be?"_

* * *

"Well, what are we gonna do now?"

Tony sighs, well aware Steve's question's aimed at him. "Yenno what, gimme a break, Steve. I just got hit in the head with a Hulk."

Scott jumps in, cutting Steve off, vibrating with the energy of words unsaid to the point where Tony thinks he might actually explode. "You said that we had one shot. Well, this, this was our shot. We shot it. It's shot. Six stones or nothing. Six stones or nothing!"

Tony rolls his eyes, shifting in the torn car seat to face the other man. "You're repeating yourself, you know that? You're repeating yourself."

"You're repeating yourself. You're repeating yourself," Scott shoots back, tone pitched high and more petulant than Tony's ever heard, even from his five year old.

"Come on," he tries to interject, but Scott barrels on.

* * *

_"You never wanted a time heist, you weren't on board with the time heist. You ruined the time heist!" Lang exclaims, and Tony heaves out a sigh, barely suppressing a roll of his eyes._

_"Is that what I did?" he asks, completely disinterested, tone akin to one used when making small talk with one's Uber driver. Not that Tony has ever taken an Uber in his life, he's only assuming._

_Scott doesn't pick up on the rhetorical nature of the question, answering with an enthusiastic "yeah!" that has Tony rolling his eyes this time._

_"Are there any other options with the Tesseract?" Steve interjects impatiently, foot tapping against the ground._

_Before Tony has a chance to respond, Lang starts up again. "No, no, no. There's no other options. There's no do-overs. We're not going anywhere else. We have one particle left. Each. That's it, alright? We use that...Bye, bye. You're not going home."_

_Tony blinks, and in the split second it takes for him to open his eyes, Steve is stepping around him, shoving the scepter at his chest while reaching his other hand out to wrap around Ant-Man's throat, effectively cutting the rant off at the source. "First, cut either Tony or I off again, and it'll be his armor around your throat next. And don't be fooled, it's not nearly as gentle as this hand." Tony shivers at the dark promise in Steve's words, barely suppressing another when Lang whimpers and Steve's expression darkens in response. "You're here to offer the assistance we're paying for, Lang," Steve growls out. "And we're not paying for the lip service. So a more of a 'speak when spoken to' approach would serve you better, I think. Wouldn't you agree, darling?" Steve turns slightly, grim expression shifting to a small grin when Tony nods enthusiastically._

_"I agree, sounds like a wonderful idea, Captain," Tony answers gleefully, and Steve nods, eyes hardening when he turns back to Lang._

_"Understood?"_

_Lang manages a small nod even though it's not really a question, and Steve releases his hold, turning to Tony. "Sorry, gorgeous. Were you going to say something?"_

_"I was going to say, I have a plan. To retake the Tesseract and acquire new particles. A little stroll down memory lane. Military installation, Garden State."_

* * *

"When were they both there?" Steve questions, searching for a more concrete answer.

Tony doesn't have one for him. "They were there at a...I have a vaguely exact idea."

"How vague?" Steve asks, and in the background Tony hears Scott's mutters of 'what are you talking about?' and 'where are we going?', but they go ignored by the other men.

"I know for a fact they were there, and I know how I know," Tony's voice is stable, confident, and he doesn't blink as Steve's gaze flits over his face. He looks away eventually, breaking eye contact with Tony and heaving a sigh.

"Well, it looks like we're improvising."

* * *

_"Zero, four… zero, seven…" Tony narrates the numbers as he enters them into his watch, and Steve repeats after him as he does the same. "One, nine, seven, zero."_

_Steve looks up at him when they finish inputting the date. "Are you sure?"_

_"When have I ever been less than one hundred percent positive, handsome? You wound me," Tony simpers, and Steve grins, a sharp, feral thing._

_"Apologies, darling. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Steve assures, moving closer to Tony as he offers his apologies, tracing a finger down his cheek and wrapping his free arm around Tony's waist, tugging him close. "You ready to go?"_

_"Cap. Captain. Steve, sorry. Hydra. Rogers." Lang pauses, searching for his words carefully as Steve arches an eyebrow in irritation. "What am I supposed to do?"_

_"Oh." Steve hums, considering. Before Tony can blink, he's pulling out his gun, a single shot that runs straight through its target. Tony watches as Lang's body collapses, blood pooling underneath his still body._

_"That wasn't part of the plan," Tony grins, looking up at the taller man, failing to supress the arousal in his veins and heat in his eyes that makes an appearance every time he watches Steve take a life without a second thought._

_Steve shrugs, amusement plain and poorly disguised. "His entire existence is, was, grating, I'd say we did the world a favor. Wouldn't you agree?"_

* * *

"Cap. Captain. Steve, sorry. America. Rogers. Look, if you do this, and this doesn't work, you're not coming back."

Tony rolls his eyes, this time so hard he's positive they nearly roll out of his head, trying to ignore the tremor of anxiety the words send through him. "Thanks for the pep talk, pissant." He squares his soldiers, turning towards Steve, eyes softening. "You trust me?" Tony asks, quiet and hesitant, the fear of rejection higher than it's ever been in his entire life.

Steve's eyes soften in turn, and he allows himself a second to step forward, soft smile on his lips as he brings a hand up to cup Tony's face. He places a soft kiss on the engineer's lips, long enough that Tony can feel the smoothness of his skin, relishes the softness of his lips. After a few seconds, Steve pulls away, breathing out "I do," and Tony feels his heart warm in response.

"Then let's go save the world."

* * *

_"Ready to go, baby?" Steve asks, looking down at Tony, and Tony nods, grin bright and cheeky as he rises to his tip toes._

_"You trust me, Captain?" Tony questions, lips brushing against Steve's as he speaks. He feels them twitch against his own._

_"I trust you about as far as I can throw you, darling."_

_Tony throws his head back on a laugh. "Good thing you can throw me pretty far then," Tony winks, and he feels the answering rumble of Steve's laugh in his chest as the man wraps his arms around him, dragging him closer still, kissing him thoroughly. His tongue slides into Tony's mouth without hesitation, stroking Tony's own, narrowing the focus of the world to the wet hot press of their lips._

_"God, I love you," Steve breathes when he pulls away, gaze reverent._

_"I know you do. Come, my Captain, let's go take over the world."_

* * *

**This is a sorta-side story to my upcoming epic, "Darren Across The 2nd Dimension". It ties into "Darren Cross's Dear Diary" and it's about Darren and Co. getting sucked into a mirror dimension in which Avengers Academy is one (1) really, really, really evil school during summer vacation.**


End file.
